Hot-electron transport studies of the Ag/Si(001) interface using ballistic electron emission microscopy

Ballistic electron emission microscopy has been utilized to investigate the hot-electron transport properties of the Ag/Si(001) Schottky diode utilizing metal films deposited both in situ and ex situ. The Schottky barrier heights are measured to be 0.57±0.02 and 0.59±0.02 eV for the ex situ and in situ depositions, respectively. The metal overlayers demonstrate typical Volmer–Weber growth when deposited on the Si(001) semiconducting substrate, as seen in the scanning tunneling microscopy images. An enhancement in hot-electron transmission is measured for the in situ deposited metal films when compared to the ex situ films.